Three ‘hydrogen ready’ power plants for Japan

Tokyo Gas Co. has chosen Mitsubishi Power to build three combined cycle power plants with 650 MW of output.

The turnkey contract calls for the first of the natural gas-fired units in Sodegaura City to commence operations in 2029. The gas turbines that will generate the bulk of the power will be M701JAC gas turbines. This project is a joint venture between MHI and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and covers EPC (engineering, procurement and construction). The two companies will collaborate on this project, with MHI supplying gas turbines, steam turbines, heat recovery steam generators and flue gas desulfurization systems and Mitsubishi Electric supplying generators and electrical products.

Mitsubishi Power, a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has received a full-turnkey contract f for a project to build three gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plants with 650 MW class natural gas-fired units in Sodegaura City, Chiba Prefecture. (Image: Tokyo Gas)

Future decarbonization will be considered from the construction stage: gas turbines capable of hydrogen co-firing will be supplied, and the plant will be designed so that it can be converted to 100% hydrogen firing with minimal rebuilding.

“In anticipation of the future use of hydrogen, this project will introduce a state-of-the-art high-efficiency gas turbine combined cycle power generation system capable of co-firing hydrogen with a capacity of 1.95 million kW,” Tokyo Gas Co. said in a news release. “ In addition, toward the realization of carbon neutrality in 2050, we believe that we will play an important role in both next-generation, high-efficiency, and decarbonized thermal power generation, such as making it possible to use hydrogen only by modifying the gas turbine. In the future, we will accelerate our efforts with a view to utilizing not only hydrogen but also all options such as e-methane and CCS.”

With decarbonization set to take place in the near future, Mitsubishi Power is working on the development of various technologies to provide support for reliable power supplies, both in Japan and overseas. Through this project, Mitsubishi Power will help to alleviate the power supply reliability issues that have occurred during Japan’s high-load periods in recent years, and will be a global pioneer in hydrogen power generation, one of the keys to zero-carbon energy.